It was one of the better hunts i have had. This is the first year that im trying to get closer to bedding with my stands and it was a relief that the first sit i saw that many and they hung around with out spooking. Ive always just hunted near my food plots, on the edge of a food source, or trails from bedding to food.
Well it's a bitter sweet first hunt of the year for me. I'm happy to finally get in a tree but I'm hunting a farm for the last time this afternoon. Had 2 shooters show up last night and they were acting kind of rutty it seemed. So I was pretty excited about hunting this set today but then we check on things midday and see that someone has put a ladder stand up for this weekends Mzldr. We were supposed to be the only ones with permission. Come to find out there's a new farmer controlling things now and we probably won't get to keep hunting. So I'm going to sit this stand tonight and try to kill one of those bucks as a last hurrah and then pull the set when I'm done. It sucks cause this farm holds good deer every year and even though we have never killed one on it we have come very close multiple times on 140-160" type deer. Either way I'm going to enjoy this last 2 hours.
Nothing but 3 does right at dark. They milled around me till way after dark and moved off and never knew I was there so that was good. Enjoyable hunt. I guess that old CRP farm whooped us for good. Fun while it lasted. I think I'm gonna wait for this moon to get back toward first quarter before I try it again. Even with this nice cool weather every thing is moving super late.
Sorry about losing the farm...been there a lot this year. Hopefully you can get some good sits in elsewhere.
Who is getting it done this weekend? We seem to have hit a slump and it certainly is not for lack of trying. I will be out tonight and hopefully all day tomorrow. Sent from my iPad using Bowhunting.com Forums
I went out last evening with my brother. Get to the spot and he shows me my stand and says he'll be right there....um...yes, 20 yards away. REALLY?! They have hundreds of acres to hunt. Anyways, saw a yearling that I could have shot, and two mature does that ran away. Brother drew on the one and then Momma doe blew at him and stomping, getting irritated because yearling was in the field. Then I had Momma stomping behind me as the yearling finally exited the field, right under my stand. Yearling started grazing behind my tree and finally Momma got her to take off and then the other one ran off too. Funny how different my brother and I hunt. I enjoyed myself, as that was some action I haven't been seeing. But, after that he got down (roughly 645). I would have waited until dark to see if anything else came through - he said he blew it and nothing else would come in. About 10 other deer were down in the other corner of this field. No idea if they ever ventured over, we walked the wood line and out...thinking about trying it again tonight, but wind is supposed to pick up so we will see.
Well I think we have had our little false rut flurry these last couple of days. First of all we have had a dozen or more brand new bucks show up on camera on various farms since Monday afternoon. Lots of pics of sparring and bucks scattering does. Then yesterday morning I put my buddy in one of my best stands and he experienced frenzied rut activities all morning. He had bucks legitimately fighting, grunting and chasing does. He ended up grazing a big wide shooter about 8 am. No blood and just some tallow on the arrow and he swears that 15 minutes after he shot the deer he saw him back after a doe. We gave a good look to confirm that it wasn't a damaging hit and got out of there. I'm going on a little mini vacation with the wife this weekend while the orange army is out there tromping around. The forecast looks great starting middle of next week so I'll probably start taking some vacation days.
This big bulldog showed up couple days ago. Not really the caliber of headgear I'm looking for but he's such a pig I'd probably have to shoot him.
Talk about an up and comer. I get as excited about getting pics of a young deer like this (especially on a farm where I can protect them) as I do getting pics of a big shooter. Never seen this deer before. I hope he likes his new home. Eat, breed and grow young fellow.
Wow. This is the buck I hope to see..only thing to show in daylight so far. But I hunt to the fill the freezer and he's legal...plus it'll be my first archery/PA buck.
I finally got a shooter on camera at my Illinois spot. Looking forward to next month. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Man that's a good one. Looks like he has some stickers. Hope to see you grabbin and grinnin behind him in the next few weeks.
Planning on going out Tuesday morning for sure, possibly Monday night as well. I'm bringing the antlers with me Tuesday morning and going to to do some light rattling sequences. Been hearing of a lot of people seeing bucks show up and sparring. Hope to see that kind of action myself. Hope someone puts one down this weekend!
Got about 10 minutes left, saw a young 6 chasing a doe. Not sure if she was actually hot, I think he was just ready for some action.
I got pictures of two different sets of bucks sparing in the last week. Couple 1.5s and a couple older bucks. Some of the bucks I have history with are showing back up too. Not going out with the weather being what it is this weekend but if the forecast holds up it will get real next weekend and the weekend after that my rutcation starts! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
